Bogeyman
by T'Kirr
Summary: 10Rose, something is hunting.  Happy Halloween!


The city's lights twinkled in the valley below. It was a beautiful sight. While a hostile environment, it was a source of nourishment and pleasure. He could feed from its residents, as long as he was stealthy. If he was anything, he was patient.

A throbbing swelled within the darkness of the knoll he perched upon. The long grasses whispered as they responded to the sound and energy that seemed to come from nowhere and was powerfully and suddenly growing in its presence. He fled from the pulsing light, hiding behind the fat trunk of the lone tree of his invaded recluse. With a final groan, the light atop a tall blue box winked out to be replaced by the softer, warm glow of its paneled windows, and all went quiet.

What wonder was this?

The silence shattered as the box suddenly opened, a door swinging inward. Someone stepped out, and he flinched back behind the tree. Normally, he would not shirk from one's gaze, but this was the unknown. What if they could see him?

"And she told me--right to my face--she said, 'I'm sorry, but you're too short.' Imagine! Me, too short!"

The voice was male. Peeking around from the tree, he could see a pale man with dark brown hair and coat. He was very thin, exiting the box with a confident stride, turning to look back into the box. A girl followed him out, somewhat younger than him and not quite as pale, but she had very light hair. She appeared to be amused by the man's words, but her expression suddenly shifted when she took in the city below them.

"And this is...?"

The man followed her gaze, as if just now seeing the city for the first time. "Ah. Doesn't look much like the Serengeti, does it?"

"Nope."

"TARDIS must've gone off course again."

"Or, its pilot needs to go back through flight school."

"Oy, it's not me! Every time the _TARDIS_ has done this, it's been for a reason, right? We just have to find what that reason _is._

"And how we gonna do that?"

"Not a clue."

The girl threw her hands up. "Well, can't you do a scan or something?"

"For what?"

"I dunno... aliens?"

The man grinned. "I like your thinking, Rose Tyler. Scan for signs of alien life, easy peasy. Hold on a tick."

As the man reentered the box, leaving the girl to stand outside, he pushed the door open fully, granting him a peek inside. Oh, but what was this? A gate to another world! It was impossible, yet there it was. It must be a world of gods. These two people, they must be gods. This world of humans was rich indeed with prey, but what higher existence could he find within… what power?

The girl began to move inward, and he panicked. What if the door were to close, now, barring his passage forever? Taking his chance, he raced forward from behind the tree, darting around the girl's legs and slipping into the light.

Feeling the girl hot on his tail, he ducked to the side, and she rushed past, closing the door behind her. He had feared that these gods could see him, but the girl just proved that she hadn't noticed him. Certainly, she wouldn't let him inside their world so easily, had she noticed him?

Their dimension was in the form of an impressive golden dome, with a bright white column in its center that stretched from the ceiling to a bulbous center console where the man stood occupied at a screen. The rich, warm interior of the space all around reminded him of the cozy homes of unsuspecting innocents, ignorant of their impending fate as he infiltrated their homes and pilfered their minds.

"I got the planet right."

"Should I be impressed?"

Tuning out their banter, he gazed upon the brightness of the column… he coveted its power, but it could wait. If anything, he was patient… content to lie in wait, to observe and learn before he pounced.

* * *

Time passed. How much time, he didn't know, but the two gods had left. Apparently, they had found the place they were looking for, and the portal to the outside had changed to their destination. He had watched from the edge of the great room as the column had lit up brilliantly, pulsing and groaning as it did the gods' bidding. The entire place had shaken with its efforts, and now it was still and quiet, waiting patiently for their return. 

After a long period of silence, he began to creep forward, scythe-like feet clicking softly across the grated flooring. He reached up, hauling himself up onto the console, being infinitely careful not to touch anything that might announce his presence. There before him was the overwhelming ambiance of the column, shining through what looked like crystal. Time again passed as he just gazed at it. Finally, he reached out a claw, tentatively touching its surface. It was smooth. How was he to penetrate it? Although it was difficult to climb, he managed to secure his legs around it and began to scale its height.

The outer doors suddenly flew inward.

"You are, you're burned!"

"I don't burn, I told you."

He gripped the column, frozen to the spot. Surely they wouldn't see him here, even though he was pressed up against such a source of brilliance. He could never be seen. He could wait, here, hugging his prise tightly until they again left.

"How would you know? You haven't had a chance yet to find out."

The man closed the door behind her. "It's got nothing to do with my current regeneration. I told you, it's a Time Lord thing."

The girl snorted as the man approached the console, standing directly beneath him. "Right, well, I used sun cream. I can tell, you're gonna pay for using nothing later."

Clutching to the column, he watched the man fixedly as he squinted at his screen, like something was wrong. Suddenly, he was rendered motionless as he saw the whites of the man's eyes as he stared directly up at him. No, not directly—he recognised that slightly unfocused look. The man was looking _through_ him, at the column. It was confirmed when the man's eyes darted down its height, taking in its colour, not him, before redirecting his attention to the screen.

"Funny… I—" The man suddenly looked at the girl with a wide smile. "Nope, nevermind, it's nothing."

"What you mean, nothing?"

"Nothing. She probably just hiccuped over space debris or something. Where were we?"

* * *

The man didn't sleep. Maybe gods didn't? That was something interesting, for sure. Something he wanted. Perhaps he could take it from him, the ability to not sleep. All in due time, though. He had more observing to do, first. He had been unable to penetrate the column, and the man hadn't shown any signs of leaving its presence any time soon, so he had carefully worked his way down and across the floor to the corridor. He best find the girl, first, to know where she was. He wouldn't want to be interrupted. If he was anything, he was careful. The man had said "Goodnight" to her hours before. Maybe she was sleeping? Perhaps they could choose to sleep, and she had. 

It was difficult to find her. Normally, he was drawn to living forms easily, but life seemed to thrum through the very walls of this place. He finally came to a door, one of many, yet he could feel her life force strong beyond this one. Carefully, with infinite patience, he gripped the handle in his wiry claw, turned, and pushed open the door.

The girl was asleep and hadn't noticed. A crack, that's all he needed, slipping into the darkness of the room. Yes, this was how he was to take her, the way he took humans. They would be most vulnerable in their sleep. Carefully climbing the god's bed, he delicately poked the bedcovers with his feet, barely depressing it with his sparse weight, and stretched out across his prey. Excitement coursed through him as he lowered his snout to her peaceful face—the face of a god that would soon be his. Stroking the space above her with his mandibles, he breathed in her essence, eager to take her in.

What was this? Confusion and disappointment flooded him. She smelled like a human. How could that be?

Had he been mistaken this entire time? Were these actually humans, infiltrators like himself in this realm of gods? That would explain why they appeared like humans, but they couldn't possess such power as this. He craned his long neck and surveyed the room. The room was of this world, but he found many things that cluttered it very familiar. Human things that often littered rooms. She was human.

Was the man human, too?

With grace, he crawled from atop the disappointing human and off the bed, crossing the carpet and slipping back out into the light of the corridor. Easing the door closed, it was as if he'd never been. He made his way back towards the domed room with the man in it. He must be a god—how else could this place of gods exist? Hadn't he said something about being a 'Time Lord'? The human girl must be somehow special, chosen by him as some sort of possession. No, that wasn't right... he could tell by the way they interacted that she was more than that.

* * *

He would have to take the male while he was awake. The god's power would be his, and then he would take the power of this world. He would wait for the perfect moment, the man's most vulnerable state. If anything, he was patient. 

The man reached down and removed a section of flooring. He could see the space below, filled with tubes and stores of energy. It looked very inviting, a place he would like to explore and make his den, but the man ducked down through the gap, blocking access.

No, this was not the right time. Yes, the way the man positioned himself on his back, arms underneath the bulk of the column's base tangled in its circulation, he was certainly restrained. He could crawl to that hole in the floor, drop onto the man's thin belly, and have a good chance of overcoming him, but that was not what he wanted. He needed access to the man's mind. He didn't want to kill the god, he wanted to take his power.

A shrieking came from below, and he scrambled back in pain. The god had a weapon! He scrambled up one of the branching pillars and looked down, feeling better now that he had some distance. A blue light flickered on and off from within the hole, the blue light of the weapon. He was using it on the column's circulation. Maybe the weapon was used for something else, too.

He waited patiently from his perch as the man lie beneath the floor, blue light flickering. Time passed, and he still waited. The moment would come, he just had to wait.

Then, it happened. The man was suddenly shifting, sitting up. He was about to stand, to rise out from the floor. The time was now. Setting his legs, he sprang down, aimed perfectly to land on his prey.

The world exploded in shrieking blue light. He fell, stunned, and when his senses returned, he was horrified to find tightness about his neck. No one could know his weakness! The god had his powerful grip around him, and he swung helpless by his neck. His body had lost its camouflage, showing inky blackness that sucked the light from the room.

What scared him even more was the utter lack of expression upon the god's face. The god's eyes bore into him, seeing his naked, unprotected darkness, and instead of screaming in terror, flinching in fear, these dark eyes judged him.

"You've been hunting on Earth, haven't you?"

He squealed in rage, kicking out ineffectually, being held at arm's length.

"Yes, I know what you are," the god sneered at him. "You venture onto my TARDIS and skulk around, thinking you own the place. Well, perhaps I've delivered a blessing to Earth." The god's voice became hard, powerful. "Your harvest stops here!"

He screamed at the god, flailed his claws and tried to bite him with his sharp teeth, but the god had him by his weak spot, and he could do nothing but cry.

Darkness, that even more powerful than he emitted, overcame him forever.

* * *

­ 

The Doctor pulled the TARDIS door shut and pocketed his sonic screwdriver. His jaw was set, and he let out a cleansing sigh. That creature would never again harm another soul. If only he could have returned what it had taken from people. And he would have, if he could. Unfortunately, it didn't work that way.

"Doctor?"

Startled, he looked up to see Rose standing in the inner doorway. She was hugging her dressing gown to herself, and looked as if she had been shivering. That would make sense, considering how angry the creature had just been. Rose would have felt it even from her room. He should have known. "Rose, you okay?"

"Yeah, jus'… what's going on?"

The Doctor offered her a soft smile, hiding the sadness of what he had just had to do. "Nothing. All's quiet. You can go back to bed."

Rose gave him a long-suffereing purse of the lips and sighed at him, her voice low in warning. "Doctor…"

The Doctor turned fully to his companion, hands in his pockets. "Really, Rose, it's nothing, now—literally nothing." He paused, giving her a meaningful look of reassurance. "It was just the bogeyman."


End file.
